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Topic: GS Microscope Thread (Read 1893 times)

The Napoleon Bonaparte that we know from our history has been replaced by an imposter that is finding the same success but making none of the fatal mistakes that eventually stopped the French Emperor. And with rumors of a so-called God Emperor possessing the ability to create both the incredible and unbelievable, the Great Powers can do little to stop the onslaught. It is near the end of Winter in 1812. The God Emperor has been holding his forces at bay, waiting out the harsh Russian cold. Preparations have been made in the interim. Supply lines are shored up, training is strict and comprehensive, and medical supplies are plentiful.

For the past five years agents of an unknown European power have been harassing Russian farmers and making clandestine incursions into the Tsar's territory. The French Empire is not suspected due to the God Emperor's silver tongue and deep pockets. Nevertheless, the Russian situation is dire thanks in large part to the uncertainty sewn by the European operatives. Food supplies are guarded jealously, as their delivery cannot always be guaranteed. Fields have been systematically sabotaged and entire towns lay abandoned or in a state of severe decay. Populations are being funneled into urban centers that are simply overwhelmed. Public safety is of great concern. The word "revolution" is on the lips of many, though in secret and a full five years before the birth of a child named Marx in what would by all accounts be one of the many German States in the God Emperor's breast pocket.

History is not going to repeat itself in the Winter of 1812. The Winter of 1812 will become nothing more than a footnote, the moment in history when the God Emperor was winding up a mighty trap for the Russian Empire. The Spring of 1813 has arrived and a million men march under the God Emperor's banner toward Moscow. Tsar Alexander I has just received word of the God Emperor's betrayal and the extent to which the French have prepared. The God Emperor's forces will arrive en masse in four days. Smaller outbreaks of violence have been on the upswing since yesterday.

I wasn't going for wacky, more like The Difference Engine but set in medieval times, less about time travel itself but more along the premise of how the medieval world would -lay out with modern technology. But if you guys would want to lock down on a single empire we could go for that.

So votes? Pat want to go for the French Napoleonic Empire but I personally want to vote for the Great Khan Empires. Its got more diverse factions and cultures to play with, the variety of backgrounds and fractionlzation gives us an opportunity for roleplaying , you have a massive empire split into four different Khanates each with countless tribes, religions faiths and cultures to play with. Just more toys in the box. And its inherent unstability would provide fun story opportunities. For the same reason I can also see us having fun with the Macedon Empire especially given what a culturally significant area that one covered. Perhaps even more ancient, imagine a grand Ancient Empire linking Egypt Mesopotamia and the Indus, or we could go to the western hemisphere, building up a grand nexus of civilizations on the continents on a scale that didnt exist in our reality, imagine a Naorth and south America full of countless nation states based on unique tribal developments and future tech?

Seems like you're frontloading the setting rather a lot. Surely the whole point of microscope is you get to start fairly blank slate? Or that's the impression I get from it.

With that in mind my new nomination is that the game follows the life of a small family-owned paper goods factory from its opening in the early 90s to its closing in the mid 90s. Pat will back me up on this.

April 2, 1813 - Moscow, SpringtimeFour days before the main body of the French force arrives

It was evening and in a small corner of Moscow something was amiss. The city was under a curfew and nobody was permitted to be on the streets after dusk for any reason whatsoever. Not that they would want to venture out. The attacks had gotten significantly worse over the last twenty four hours; people were being cut down in the streets by hooded archers that would scurry off across the rooftops and vanish into the haze to seek out another target. Some were speaking of a great fire far outside the city as the cause of the musty fog that had descended upon the city, a scheme set in motion by the God Emperor. His betrayal was like a dagger through the heart of the Russian people. And now there was barely any time to mount a defense. If only the attack had occurred a few months prior. If only.

But something else was happening in a small corner of Moscow. The haze had parted and the nearly-full moon could be seen slowly rising up into a darkening sky. A slight breeze began to stir in a back alleyway, pushing scraps of tattered fabric up against a stack of wood scraps. There was a spark, a flash of energy from some unknown source. Two eyes peered out from beneath the scraps of wood, a desperate home for desperate times. The air smelled fresh, it tasted fresh. Another spark lit up the alley once more and something crashed to the ground. And with a great heaving sound the haze rushed back in once again, blotting out the tiny stars in the fresh night sky and rendering the moon nothing more than a faint, pale lamp.

A person, the Traveler, groaned and sat upright. They used their arm to push up off of the dirt alley and unsteadily got to their feet. The Traveler was definitely a person, the observer beneath the wood scraps knew that. But there was a mask or... something. A helmet? But unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Sex was not discernible; however, they were clearly in good physical shape and seemed to be equipped for something more than walking around. That was it, though. Everything else about the Traveler was an utter mystery, with more questions being raised with each passing moment. The observer remained quiet and stayed inconspicuous.

The Traveler placed a hand on the side of their head and seemed to sigh. Their mind was racing, but the training had been strict and long and they retained an air of calm.

"Had any of the others made it out? What of the other facilities? Everything falling apart around us. Where did it go? Reality changed before our very eyes. Did anyone else make it? Are they gone forever? Did it hurt to change like that..."

Moving to the side of the alley and crouching up against a wall, the Traveler raised their arm and looked at a panel on the back of their hand. A light flickered on and a small hologram appeared. The Traveler looked through a few items quickly and stopped, noting the presence of a human hiding beneath a pile of wood nearby. Whoever they were, they could hide spectacularly well and were hard to detect, even with the aid of advanced technology. Moving on, the Traveler sifted through a few more screens before stopping at a specific file. The file began with the picture of a handsome man with a thin smile. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, standing before a wall with height marks measured out in thick black lines. In the man's hands was a small board with the facility's number and the inmate's identification. This was the man that had declared war on the past and destroyed the future. He was the cause of the catastrophe that the Traveler had only barely escaped from minutes prior.

And if the intelligence was correct, he would be in Moscow in four days.

Seems like you're frontloading the setting rather a lot. Surely the whole point of microscope is you get to start fairly blank slate? Or that's the impression I get from it.

With that in mind my new nomination is that the game follows the life of a small family-owned paper goods factory from its opening in the early 90s to its closing in the mid 90s. Pat will back me up on this.

The basic point at this stage is to pick a focus. A period of time that our rping will stretch from begging to end on. For example on game of Scope I used as a template for this one started with Humanity leaving earth due to pollution and disaster and ending with the species diffused and isolated among the stars. From the way you and Pat spoke its seemed out focus would be the timeline of a nation starting from when a time traveler arrived and reshaped history. For example I would love to chart through the Polynesian and pacific Islander cultures. A lot of how they were set up reminds me a lot of a space opera but with islands and oceans instead of planets and space and seeing all the little cultures merging and unmerging and remegring with the tech disruption would be fun. Or we could shift totally and do a sitcom riff. That sounds fun.

Pat still seems stuck on his Napoleonic Empire though. I mean I'll go with that if teh group does but frankly i find it not that compelling if we were doing middle modern Europe I would go with the Spanish Empire , pre hapsburg split.

We... we haven't actually settled on a setting yet that's what we're doing. The game itself is fleshing out the setting, the idea is to pick a rough concept and then spend the game fleshing it out and world building it through the game-play. The Napoleon thing is fine but you seem to be the only one who voted for it, well you and Brandon. Pat is proposing his sitcom idea, and I like your core concept but would prefer a different nation. So yeah we kinda have to come to a consensus because otherwise we would all basically just be playing by ourselves. I've tossed out a dozen or so ideas, do any of them speak to anyone?

Anyone wanna do Krakows sitcom idea?

My count is

Krakow: SitcomBrandonazz: Napoleonic TimetravelPat: Napoleonic timetravelJim: Almost literally any other national with the time travel plot or the sitcom

Or you know we could pick entirely a round up of setting ideas here's a round up of some